SARP 2018

The NASA Airborne Science Program invites highly motivated advanced undergraduates who will be rising seniors in summer 2018 to apply for participation in the 10th annual NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP 2018). The purpose of the Student Airborne Research Program is to provide students with hands-on research experience in all aspects of a major scientific campaign, from detailed planning on how to achieve mission objectives to formal presentation of results and conclusions to peers and others. Students will work in multi-disciplinary teams to study surface, atmospheric, and oceanographic processes. Participants will fly onboard the NASA DC-8 and assist in the operation of instruments to sample and measure atmospheric gases and to image land and water surfaces in multiple spectral bands. Along with airborne data collection, students will participate in taking measurements at field sites. Each student will complete an individual research project from the data collected.

Outstanding faculty and staff for this program will be drawn from several universities and NASA centers, as well as from NASA flight operations and engineering personnel.

The eight-week program begins June 17, 2018 and concludes August 10, 2018.

Instrument and flight preparations, and the research flights themselves, will take place during the first two weeks of the program at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Palmdale, CA. Post-flight data analysis and interpretation will take place during the final six weeks of the program at the University of California, Irvine. SARP participants will receive a $5,000 stipend, a travel allowance, and free housing and local transportation during the 8-week program.